It is well known that the rafter area of open buildings and the attic of enclosed buildings tend to accumulate vast amounts of heat since hot air is lighter than cooler air.
Accumulated gasses, hot, humid air, dust and the like from houses, hog facilities, poultry houses, and the like all have a need to vent the under roof areas and to create air circulation through out the interior thereof.
To meet the need of ventilating roof areas, various means have been developed from simple roof ridge ventilators to relatively complex combinations of skylights and ventilators.
Many of the prior known roof-type ventilators and ridge ventilators are susceptible to receiving water thereinto during driving rainstorms and other severe weather. Also if corrosive by-product gasses from hog facilities, poultry houses and the like as well as gaseous by-products from manufacturing processes are vented on or in close proximity to the roof, such gasses can cause rust and other surface damage. Also the corrosive gasses can cause severe rusting of the ventilators themselves if formed from a ferrous-type metal or severe oxidation of aluminum or similar metals.
Concise Explanation of Prior Art References
U.S. Pat. No. 2,923,225 to Massey discloses a roof ventilator with roof ports on either side thereof facing downwardly at approximately a 45 degree angle. This is more or less a standard of prior art roof ventilators.
The Patent to Allman et al discloses a ventilator that is designed to exhaust air from a structure while providing baffles to prevent wind and wind driven rain or snow from entering the building through the ventilator. This ventilator exhausts upwardly and would be relatively expensive and complex to manufacture and install.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,214,183 to Seymour includes a curved interior baffle to prevent rain, snow and the like from entering the ventilator. The exhaust gasses, however, exit adjacent roof in a downwardly direction thereagainst.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,037 to Tubbesing et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,314 to Waggoner, U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,225 to Sells and U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,095 to Wolfert are all considered of general interest in that they disclose roof ridge ventilators that are mounted juxtapose to the roof with openings on the edges thereof which would make the roof subject to corrosion and other damage from exhaust gasses as well as being susceptible to ingress of driven rain and snow.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 909,472 is considered of interest in that it discloses a combination skylight and ventilator with a series of pulleys used to manipulate the same.